Texas Moves to Nix Scholarships to Illegals

A Republican lawmaker introduced a bill this week in the Texas state House to repeal a law that gives in-state college scholarships to illegal immigrants, the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reports.

“In a nutshell, my bill puts citizenship before residence status,” state Rep. Charles Perry said Tuesday. “We should not relegate (American) citizenship to a second-class status.”

In 2001, Texas passed a law that allows high school seniors who qualify to pay lower in-state tuition at any public university or college in the state regardless of their immigration status.

Gov. Rick Perry (no relation) has said recently that he supports the old law and defended it during gubernatorial debates last year. So Charles Perry isn’t optimistic that his bill will pass. However, he introduced it to keep a campaign promise.

The bill has not yet been assigned a committee for the required hearing. But it’s expected to be taken up by the State Affairs Committee.